1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a snowmobile.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a snowmobile including an engine, a vehicle body frame made of a metal material, skis located on a front portion of the vehicle body frame and a track belt driven by the engine is known. A more lightweight snowmobile receives a smaller running resistance while running on the snow. Therefore, the snowmobile is desired to be reduced in the weight. US2013/0032418 A1 discloses a snowmobile including a metal vehicle body frame partially made of a carbon fiber material, which is more lightweight. US2011/0192667 A1 discloses a snowmobile including a bumper made of a carbon fiber material.
Recently, a carbon fiber-reinforced plastic material, which is more lightweight and more rigid than the carbon fiber material, is adopted for a portion of a vehicle body frame. However, it has not been attempted to replace the carbon fiber material with a carbon fiber-reinforced plastic material in a larger portion of the vehicle body frame, and problems and the like caused by the replacement are not known.
In a snowmobile, an engine is supported by an engine support portion of the vehicle body frame. A load caused by the weight of the engine is applied to the engine support portion. For forming the vehicle body frame by molding, the engine support portion needs to be formed to have a reinforcing structure against the load of the engine. However, a vehicle body frame mainly made of the metal material and a vehicle body frame mainly made of a carbon fiber-reinforced plastic material have different advantages and disadvantages. Therefore, a reinforcing structure for the engine support portion mainly made of a metal material cannot be adopted as it is as the reinforcing structure for the engine support portion mainly made of a carbon fiber-reinforced plastic material.